Death's Loyalty Card
by Teddylonglong
Summary: Harry, the master of death, makes a deal with the grim reaper. Once a year, he gets a coupon to do away or save souls of his choice. Chaos ensues. Completely AU, partly OOC, takes place in the time of the Marauders. Possible time paradox. Possible character deaths - thus the rating.
1. Prologue

**Death's Loyalty Card**  
**by Teddylonglong**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

_**Warnings: Completely AU **(also means that people's names, birth dates etc. might be changed to fit into this story). **Partly OOC. Possible time paradox.**_

* * *

**Prologue **

The young couple was spending a lazy afternoon in the park of their manor, eyeing their one-year-old boy play with his kitten with a combination of pride and amusement.

All of a sudden, a fairy-like figure in long, white robes swept into the park.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you on this fine Sunday," she apologized. "I am Fate; I'm sure you have heard of me. At this time, Death sent me to talk to you." Before the shocked couple could protest in any way, she continued, "Do not worry, he's not going to take anyone from you, it's just the opposite. We need your son to become the twin brother to an orphan, who died in his own time."

"All right, but why should we do such a thing?" the husband enquired in confusion. "What relationship does he or she have to us?"

"He's of your own blood," Fate replied, before she pulled something out of her robe pocket and placed it onto the table. When she waved her hand to enlarge the item, it became recognisable as a Pensieve.

"Just watch and you'll understand," she said in a soft voice. "It'll take you the rest of today to watch and prepare everything for his arrival, so I'm going to bring him here tomorrow evening. Will that be agreeable?"

The couple exchanged a horrified look, before they both replied as one, "Yes, we will do our best."

HP

Later the same day, when their fifteen-month-old boy was in bed, they instructed a house-elf to keep an eye on him and headed into the Pensieve together for a voyage through the worst memories they had ever witnessed. After two hours of watching, they were both leaning into each other, crying, and decided to continue after a break.

It took much consolation by each other as well as two calming draughts each to make the couple head into the Pensieve again later on – only to see more memories, which turned out to just only getting worse.

They witnessed horrible things and could not stop their tears, when the owner of the memories finally succumbed to his fate.

"That was so horrible. I can't…" She slowly trailed off, unable to follow any coherent thought.

"I know," he replied in a consoling voice. "We'll see to it that everything will turn out better this time. First thing tomorrow morning, I'm going to talk to my best friend. Some of these scenes, I need him to witness."

She could only nod under tears.

HP

Sixteen-year-old Harry Potter stared at the curse that speedily travelled towards his girlfriend, Hermione Granger, in shock. There was no way that he could prevent her fate by any means. He felt as if the world was coming to an end, as he observed her succumb to the curse.

"You bastard!" he shouted at Voldemort in absolute rage, who had already made use of the idle moment to send another killing curse in Harry's direction.

HP

By the time Harry's mind turned back to reality, he found himself in a small, quite naked room, sitting on a dark, wooden bench. Before him, a person completely clothed in black was hovering, staring at him in clear disdain. _'Who is that? Is he a Death Eater? He almost looks like a Dementor, but the cold feeling is missing,'_ he thought, however, was not able to further linger on his questions. Before he could get a clue or do as much as pull his wand, the person in front of him spoke up, sounding bored.

"Well, well, you managed to get yourself killed."

Harry shrugged. He did not feel in any way uncomfortable, and he recalled that Voldemort had just killed Hermione in front of his eyes. "Where are we?" he simply enquired.

"We're at my place" was the unsatisfying response.

"Who are you?" Harry then wanted to know.

"Death," his conversation partner informed him.

Harry stared at the figure in front of him for a moment, before realisation set in. _'Oh of course, that makes sense. I'm dead, so I'm talking to Death. Maybe he's something like the devil. Honestly, I expected to be able to advance to heaven to see Mum, Dad, Sirius and Hermione, but it seems as if I had ended up in hell. Oh well.'_ He let out a long sigh, when Death began to speak again.

"As the Master of Death, you're not able to die," he informed him.

"Master of Death?" Harry enquired, frowning.

"You're the owner of the Deathly Hallows, which makes you the Master of Death. You inherited the cloak from your father and the Elder Wand as well as the ring with the Resurrection stone from Albus Dumbledore, when he passed over to his next great adventure," Death explained.

Harry stared at the man in disbelief before eyeing the mentioned ring that was sitting on the ring finger of his left hand.

"Anyway, what do you want me to do?" Death suddenly enquired. "Do you want me to send you back to where you just came from?"

_'What else?'_ Harry wondered, staring at Death in confusion.

"What else?" Death repeated his unasked question, before revealing that he could as well send him to a different place on the earth or - if Harry preferred it - to a different time, past or future, whatever he wanted.

"Oh, I can save Hermione," was Harry's first response, before he amended, "Maybe I should go back as far as to save Severus Snape. He saved my life multiple times, and that way, I should be able to save Hermione as well," Harry blurted out, wondering if that was possible at all.

Death merely stared at him, his face blank without any emotion whatsoever.

"Oh wait." An idea suddenly crossed Harry's mind. "I could even go and save Sirius."

"You could," Death agreed, sounding bored.

"But then I'd have to destroy all the Horcruxes again," Harry mused aloud. "Excuse me sir…"

"I'm not a sir. I'm Death," Death interrupted him, impatiently.

"All right, err, sorry, would it be possible to go back as far as to save my parents?" Harry asked, slowly becoming excited upon pondering his options.

Of course," Death replied, sighing. "You can go one thousand years into the past or the future if that's what you want."

"Oh okay." Harry remained pensive for a moment, before he spoke up again. "I should go to a time before Voldemort made his Horcruxes then."

"You could kill him as a baby," Death suggested.

"Oh no, I wouldn't be able to kill a baby," Harry blurted out, horrified.

"Excuse me, sir…"

"I'm not a sir," Death corrected him before looking at him in clear expectation.

"Ah, sorry, I mean, could you perhaps help me to get rid of the Horcruxes, so that I'll be able to kill him for you?"

"I'll offer you a deal then. I shall get rid of the Horcruxes if you marry one of the Death Eaters," Death suggested.

"A Death Eater?" Harry asked, incredulously.

"Yes. There are quite a number of witches among the Death Eaters," Death insisted.

"Do they have to be a Death Eater, when I marry them, or can I prevent them from becoming one?" Harry enquired, horrified at the idea of marrying someone like Narcissa Malfoy or Bellatrix Black.

"Ahhh, you're my death," Death replied, growling. "Maybe I should send you to the time of Merlin then, so that you can completely fiddle with the past and the future. Oh well, I'm not going to give you a choice anymore, and the deal stands. Close your eyes if you don't want to get very sick during the travel. I shall speak with Fate, and she'll arrange everything for you. I tell you something. Don't come back to me soon. You're totally unnerving. Oh, by the way, the Elder wand and your cloak will come to you, when you call for them. You will need them," he added, smirking.

"Yes," Harry merely replied in confusion, absentmindedly looking at the rings of the Potter, Black and Gaunt families, which he was still wearing, when he sensed the movement to begin and hurriedly closed his eyes. "Bye Death and thanks for whatever you arranged for me," he uttered as an afterthought, his thoughts going haywire upon realising that he did not even have the slightest clue about the arrangements – except for the fact that he needed to marry a Death Eater.

_tbc...?_

_I will only continue this story if you are interested and willing to keep my muse motivated..._


	2. Baby times

**Death's Loyalty Card**  
**by Teddylonglong**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

_**Warnings: Completely AU **(also means that people's names, birth dates etc. might be changed to fit into this story). **Partly OOC. Possible time paradox.**_

* * *

When Harry felt the movement become slower and finally stop, he curiously opened his eyes and glanced around. He found himself sitting in a garden next to a baby; however, he felt extremely strange. Looking down at his own body, he realised in shock that he was a baby as well, just about the size of the one next to him. His torn, bloody robes were missing, and he found himself dressed in a baby jumpsuit with a pattern of small, quacking ducks all over the quilt.

_'What the hell happened?'_ he thought, horrified. _'Who's the other baby, and moreover, why am I a baby?'_ He looked up in shock, when a young witch, whom he could not recall having seen before, leaned over him and gently picked him up.

"Hello Harry," the witch addressed him in a soft voice, before she sat down, gently placing him onto her lap, while a young man picked up the other baby.

"Hi," he uttered, shyly, giving the three people a curious look. What he supposed was the mother of the small family had long, black hair and warm brown eyes, just like the father, although he had the same messy hair as Harry and the other baby.

"Harry, this is your twin brother James," the lady explained, "and this is your father, Charlus Potter. I'm your mother, Dorea Potter-Black. Fate told us that you were going to belong to our family from now on."

"James?" Harry queried, quirking an eyebrow at the other baby. _'James as in my father James?'_ he wondered in disbelief. _'Charlus and Dorea Potter must be my grandparents,'_ he realised. He had heard the names before, however, had never spent much time engrossing himself in the history of his family.

"Yes," the woman confirmed. "James, this is your twin brother Harry."

_'I just hope he'll accept me as his twin. This is simply amazing. I'm going to get to know my father and my grandparents,'_ Harry thought in excitement, as he observed how James carefully slid down from his father's lap and toddled over to him. He quickly slid down from their mother's lap, smiling happily, when James hugged him and placed a sloppy kiss onto his cheek.

Casting his surrogate twin brother a broad smile, Harry carefully hugged him back.

"James, why don't you go and show Harry your room?" Dorea suggested. They had explained to James that he was going to get a twin brother, because Harry's parents were dead and James was the closest to a brother Harry had.

"Hawwy," James called him, and Harry happily toddled behind his newly-found twin, carefully climbing up the stairs to the nursery, which was equipped with two cots next to each other and a large window that allowed the view onto the park.

_'This feels totally strange,_' he inwardly moaned, as he tried to keep up with his newly found twin's speed on his small feet. _'I'm not used to these small feet. I haven't been a baby anymore for more than a decade,_' he thought, as he let his eyes wander around the nursery.

_'This is an amazing room,'_ he thought, uncertain how well he was supposed to speak to not be too different from James. _'I need to ask our parents many questions, once I can talk to them alone without having James listening in,'_ he resolved, as he admired the room, which was kept in different shades of blue.

"Hawwy pway?" James invited him, as he pulled a miniature version of the Hogwarts Express out of a shelf with toys.

"Cool," Harry replied, and the two boys busied themselves putting the train together, before they spent the remaining afternoon letting small animals travel from London to Hogsmeade and back, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

_'Oh Merlin, even if I've kept all my memories, I'm a real baby now,'_ Harry realised in shock upon noticing how much fun he had playing with James.

All of a sudden, he noticed that he had to relieve himself. "James, where's de toilet?" he enquired, urgently, causing James to shrug, helplessly.

Fortunately, their mother came looking for them just in time to assist Harry to the bathroom.

"Fanku," Harry said, gratefully, once he returned to the nursery.

"My, you're a really big boy already," Dorea commended him, smiling. "Your father would like to speak with you for a moment. Let me show you to his office."

Holding out both hands to the twins, Dorea accompanied Harry to her husband's office before heading to the parlour with James.

HP

"Harry," Charlus addressed the child, before he gently helped him into a chair in front of his desk. "Do you remember everything that happened?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Yes," Harry replied, firmly, wondering how much his parents, who were obviously his grandparents, knew about him.

"Fate came to see us yesterday and announced that she would bring you here today," Charlus informed him, "and she gave us a Pensieve, which contains a copy of many of your memories."

"Oh okay," Harry replied, thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry, my boy, that you had such a horrible childhood. While in reality, Dorea and I are your grandparents, for now, we're going to be your parents and we'll see to it that your childhood will be much better this time around. I hope you don't mind growing up together with James," he added, giving Harry a questioning look.

"No, I wike it," Harry replied, only to add, "but it's strange to be a baby."

"I believe that, considering that you have your sixteen-year-old mind," Charlus said in understanding, smiling fondly at the child. "We're very happy to have you and to get to know you, and James will thoroughly enjoy having a brother."

"Fank you so much," Harry replied, feeling happy at the revelation. Suddenly, however, he felt extremely tired and could not help letting out a huge yawn, causing his grandfather to chuckle.

"So much about having a baby body," he said in a soft voice, only to add, "Harry, I know about the prophecy and your deal with Death and everything. Please just leave everything to me for the time being, and we'll figure something out when you're much older. Just enjoy your second childhood for now."

"Ok, fanks," Harry replied, feeling very much consoled and relieved by his surrogate father's kind words.

HP

When Charlus placed Harry into his cot in the nursery, where James was already taking a nap as well, he and his wife could not help admiring their grandson.

"He looks like a duplicate of James," Dorea spoke up, "apart from his beautiful emerald eyes."

"I wonder who his mother is," Charlus added, grinning. He suddenly leaned down and took the baby's right hand into his own, much larger hand. "Dorea," he blurted out in apparent shock, "the boy's not only wearing the ring of Gryffindor but also of Slytherin as well as another ring, the one which we saw in his memories."

"Slytherin?" Dorea repeated in surprise. "Oh well, considering that he's to marry a Death Eater…" She slowly trailed off, realising that the ring could not have anything to do with his future wife.

"His mother must be the heiress of Slytherin," Charlus clarified. "However, the last heir before Harry seems to not have claimed their heritage, so that Harry kept the ring, when he was returned to this time, unlike the Black and the Potter rings, which I know he was wearing during his conversation with Death. I didn't notice the other rings in that memory. Or in any other," he added as an afterthought.

"Do we already have these Death Eaters in this time?" Dorea enquired. "I've never heard of them."

Charlus shook his head. "Nor have I," he admitted. "But we saw a few of the people who became Death Eaters in Harry's memory. Most of them were in Slytherin."

"Hey," Dorea protested, playfully slapping his arm. "I was a Slytherin if you remember correctly."

"Yes, my dear, I'm aware of that," Charlus replied in apparent amusement, gently pulling her into a passionate kiss. "There are always examples from the rules," he added, smirking. "Let me reword it then. Most of them belong to the dark fraction in the Wizengamot."

"Why aren't you wearing the ring of Gryffindor, by the way?" Dorea suddenly asked. "You're the heir of Gryffindor, aren't you?"

"Yes, that I am," Charlus confirmed, "but I've never claimed the lordship for that family, and I don't really see a need to do such a thing. Let's just leave the rings to Harry for the time being. If the need arose for some reason, I could always take the lordship. We should ask Harry to conceal the rings or help him do so to avoid questions," he added as an afterthought.

They were brought back to reality, when Harry suddenly began to thrash around and mumble incoherently, causing the young couple to exchange a horrified look.

"A one-year-old having nightmares," Charlus blurted out, seemingly horrified. "How mad is that?"

"Oh, my poor cutie," Dorea cooed, as she gently raised Harry into her arms, carefully placing a kiss onto his cheek. "It's all right now, Harry. You're safe at home, my child."

She felt full of love for the small addition to her family, when emerald green eyes opened and looked at her and the baby's mouth bent to a small smile.

"Fanks…Mummy," Harry whispered, happily chuckling, when Charlus playfully tickled his tiny toes.

_'He's so adorable,'_ Dorea thought, _'just like James.'_ In spite of knowing that the circumstances that had led to her getting to raise her grandson together with his father had been dire, she felt extremely happy at the prospect of raising them as twins. '_I so much wanted another child,'_ she thought, as she gently cuddled the baby close until he drifted back to sleep.

HP

"I'm going to see Arcturus," Charlus informed his wife, as he rose from the breakfast table.

"All right dear," Dorea agreed, smiling, knowing that the man, who was not only her brother but also her husband's best friend, would surely be able and willing to help with the predicament they found themselves in.

Charlus grabbed the Pensieve from the table, where they had left it the day before, and stepped into the fireplace, calling out, "Arcturus Black's place."

His friend was sitting behind the desk in his office, when Charlus stepped out of the fireplace.

"Good morning my friend, what brings you here?" Arcturus enquired, sounding as grumpy as ever.

"I've much to tell you," Charlus replied in a grave voice, before he informed his friend about the visit from Fate, his grandson's memories in the Pensieve and his new, surrogate son.

Arcturus merely nodded and motioned for Charlus to enter the Pensieve together with him. Together, they watched the memories, which Charlus found even more incredible and horrible than the first time.

"Oh Merlin," his friend breathed, once they returned to the office and sat around his desk. "Well, most of it is already done, and I trust your grandson AKA son to remedy a few things this time. I know that I'm surely going to handle the Black family differently from what I must have done in the boy's former timeline."

Charlus nodded, feeling completely lost as of what to say.

"As to his deal with Death, I suppose that we could simply set up a betrothal contract between Harry and one of my granddaughters," Arcturus spoke again, causing Charlus to look at his friend with a hopeful expression.

"That would be extremely helpful I suppose, as much as I usually detest betrothal contracts," he replied, feeling very grateful towards his best friend.

Before Arcturus could spin the idea any further, however, a black figure materialised in front of them, right in his office.

"Death?" Arcturus enquired in apparent disbelief.

'_That's him_,' Charlus also realised from the memory of Harry and Death that they had viewed earlier.

"Yes, it's me," Death growled. "Just so you know, if you don't want to meet a very untimely end in five minutes at the latest, you're not going to make a betrothal contract with my Master and any of your granddaughters. That's a deal between me and the boy, and he has to fulfil his part – not either of you. You better listen, or we'll see each other again very soon."

With that, the black figure disappeared as sudden as he had appeared in the first place, causing the two friends to stare at each other in disbelief.

"Well, so much about helping the boy," Arcturus sighed.

"Thanks for trying though," Charlus replied, smiling.

"That's what friends are for. Don't worry, we'll still be able to manipulate the matter a little," Arcturus promised, as he fetched two small glasses as well as a bottle of old Irish Whiskey from the shelf behind him.

HP

Harry spent the whole day playing with James and his new mother and just enjoyed being a baby without any responsibilities whatsoever.

Ever since he could remember, his greatest wish had always been having a family, and right now, he almost felt as if he was living in a paradise, having not only parents, but even a brother, who seemed to fully accept and appreciate him as his twin. _'I must be the happiest boy in the world,'_ he thought, wearing a delighted smile that made his parents' hearts melt.

_tbc...?_

_Thank you so much for your kind comments on the previous chapter. I am not sure if I should continue this. While I don't have time to read much, as I rather spend my time writing besides working full-time, my husband told me that there are many similar stories around, so I don't know if there will be much interest in this. Please tell me what you think._


	3. The coupon book

**Death's Loyalty Card**  
**by Teddylonglong**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

_**Warnings: Completely AU **(also means that people's names, birth dates etc. might be changed to fit into this story). **Partly OOC. Possible time paradox.**_

* * *

Faster than he had expected it, Harry became used to being small again and thoroughly enjoyed growing up together with James. However, he especially loved the times, which Charlus spent alone with him, so that they were able to speak about his past life, his memories and his concerns about the future in private. Even if Charlus had told him many times to not worry about things like marrying a Death Eater witch, killing Voldemort and saving people from death, Harry could not help worrying if he was going to do everything right.

**_Five years later…_**

For the twins' sixth birthday, Dorea and Charlus Potter had thought of something special and had invited all the children of Charlus' fellow members of the Wizengamot, who were around James' and Harry's age.

_'Everyone who's going to attend Hogwarts together with us,'_ Harry realised upon letting his eyes wander over the guests, even if he could not recognise everyone, whom he had merely known as adults, at the age of six. He realised, however, that there were at least some children, whom he had not known at all in his own time.

All of a sudden, Arcturus Black approached him. "May I speak with you in private for a few minutes?" he asked in a small voice, causing Harry to nod.

_'He's Charlus' best friend and Mum's sister; he won't do anything to me,'_ he thought, as he followed the man into the library, where the older wizard motioned him to take a seat opposite of him.

"Your father has told me everything about you," the head of the Black family began to speak, "and I know about your deal with Death. In order to help you as much as possible, I'd like you to tell me everything that you know about my family in the future."

Harry let out a deep sigh, before he slowly began to speak. "Sirius," he paused, giving the older wizard a questioning look.

"My grandson, yes," Arcturus replied, nodding in confirmation.

"Sirius," Harry continued, "was my godfather; however, I only got to know him, when I was thirteen, because he was unjustly put into Azkaban for twelve years. After that, he had about two years to live, before Bellatrix Lestrange, the bitch, killed him."

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Arcturus repeated, pensively.

"She was a Death Eater, she and her sister Narcissa Malfoy," Harry continued, his voice laced with anger. "Sirius escaped from Azkaban in his dog Animagus form," he recalled. "He was then living at the Black house in London. There was a portrait of his mother, screaming and screeching every time someone entered the house. She was horrible."

"Walburga Black?" Arcturus enquired.

"I think that was her name," Harry replied, darkly, as he remembered the most annoying portrait. "She got Regulus killed. He became a Death Eater, because she forced him to become one, and when he finally realised what Voldemort was doing and tried to get away, he was killed by Voldemort. She also wanted to kick Sirius out of the family for not following the Dark Lord. He fled to the Potters and lived with them for the last years of his time at Hogwarts. That's all I know though, sorry sir," he apologized.

Arcturus let out a snort. "That's more than anyone else knows, dear boy, and that'll help me organise the Black family in a much better fashion this time around. What about Andromeda, Cissy's and Bella's older sister, though?" he suddenly remembered to ask.

"Oh, sorry," Harry replied, remaining pensive for a moment. "I think Andromeda was kicked out of the family for marrying Ted Tonks, a muggleborn wizard. They had a brilliant daughter, Nymphadora Tonks. She was an Auror and a metamorphmagus. She married Remus Lupin, a werewolf, but I don't know if they survived the war, as I died before I could finish Voldemort off," he added in deep regret.

"Don't worry about that, my boy. This time, your father… or should I say grandfather… and I are around as is Dorea, and we're all going to help you," the older wizard promised.

Harry shook his head. "Thank you, sir, but there's a prophecy about Voldemort and me, and it says that I'm the one who has to kill him."

"Oh right, I saw that in your memories, but at least you have the deal with Death, so that the Dark Lord will be mortal, when you approach him. On the other hand, you need to marry one of the women, who were Death Eaters in your time," he added, thoughtfully. "Can you name them?"

Harry let out a deep sigh. "Bellatrix and Narcissa are the ones that come to mind first," Harry replied, thoughtfully. "I can't really imagine to marry Bella though. She was nice, earlier, but I still have the image in the front of my mind, where she put Sirius through the veil. I don't know if I can ever forget that. Oh well, there should be others like, for example, the mother of Pansy Parkinson or Millicent Bulstrode or, for example, of Theodore Nott or most of the Slytherins in my year. I don't know them though, which makes it even more difficult." He sighed again.

Arcturus remained pensive for a moment, before he spoke up in determination. "Well, Charlus and I have already spoken about this, when you came to live with him five years ago. Unfortunately, Death forbade us to simply set up a betrothal contract between you and one of my two granddaughters in question. I have, however, set up something that prevents everyone else to set up such a contract for any of my grandchildren, so that no one will be able to take them away from you by a betrothal contract. Meet them at Hogwarts, when you're all older than now, and see how you like each other, and then we can always reconsider the matter."

"Thank you so much, sir," Harry replied, feeling extremely grateful towards the older wizard.

"I'm not a sir, Harry," Arcturus replied. "Considering that my sister is your mother now, I'm your uncle."

"All right Uncle Arcturus," Harry replied with a combination of gratitude and amusement.

"By the way," Arcturus added as an afterthought, "we should keep the knowledge about your past and everyone's future between the four of us, your parents, yourself and myself."

"Yes, that's probably the best," Harry agreed, gratefully.

"Now get back to your party," his newly found uncle instructed him, and Harry scurried off for an afternoon of playing with his fellow six-year-olds.

HP

He took some time to just observe the children play, trying to figure out who was who. _'Peter seems to not be here,'_ he thought. _'I'm sure that he was a pureblood, but they probably don't hold a seat on the Wizengamot,'_ he realised. _'Same as with Remus. That must be Frank Longbottom though, Neville's father,_' he thought upon seeing a boy, who was resembling Neville a great deal. _'The three Black sisters are very cute though.'_ Narcissa, the youngest, was especially cute, however, when Harry hesitantly stepped over to the sisters, Bellatrix was the first to speak with him.

"Do you have a children's wand?" she enquired in a friendly voice, causing Harry to look at her in surprise.

"No," he replied, before adding, hesitantly, "Do you have one?"

"No," she said, and her mouth curled to a pout. "Andy has one, and I want one, too," she added. "Andy is my older sister. She's nine already, and Mum says she has to learn to use a wand, 'cause she's going to attend Hogwarts in one and a half years' time."

"Bella, you're only six and don't need to practise yet," Andromeda told her younger sister, who in return rolled her eyes at the oldest, causing Harry to inwardly grin.

_'She's not so bad yet; maybe there's still hope,'_ he thought and, before he knew what happened, he heard himself suggest, "Maybe we could study together some time and try doing wandless magic. James and I sometimes do that."

Bella stared at him in apparent excitement, before she agreed. "Yes, let's do that. Can you ask your parents, and I'll talk to mine?"

"You could also ask your grandfather," Harry pointed out. "He's good friends with my father and often visits us. Maybe he could bring you with him, when he comes here."

The two six-years agreed to try convincing the adults, just before Dorea informed everyone that the party was over and they had to take the Floo home. _'I should also ask Dad if Sirius could visit us together with Bella,'_ Harry thought, while he observed the children queue to use the fireplace.

"That was much fun," James said to Harry, once their last guests were gone.

"Yes, it was," Harry agreed, before he let James in on his idea to ask the adults if they could practise magic together with Sirius and Bellatrix. Needless to say that James was all for it.

Suddenly, an idea pushed itself to the forefront of Harry's mind and he hurried to seek out his father, barely realising that James followed on his heels.

"Dad, could you and Uncle Arcturus perhaps convince the headmaster of Hogwarts to set up a primary school on the Hogwarts grounds?" Harry blurted out, causing James to loudly voice his consent.

"That might be a good idea," Charlus replied, seemingly pensive. "I'll talk to your uncle, and we'll try to convince Dumbledore. Considering that I'm the heir of Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw, we might be able to get him to agree. Let me seek out the portrait of Godric and Rowena and discuss the matter with them first," he added as an afterthought, causing Harry to gasp.

"There's a portrait of the founders of Hogwarts here in the manor?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, there is, and I'll make sure to introduce the two of you at another time," Charlus replied in apparent amusement. "Now however, I believe that it's almost dinner time, and I'm sure that your mother is wondering where you are. Go and wash your hands."

HP

It was much later the same evening, when Harry and James were in bed and James was already fast asleep, that Harry noticed some movement in the almost dark room.

_'What's that?'_ he wondered, just when the torch that used to automatically come to light upon sensing movement in the room flared up. _'Death,'_ he realised in shock.

"Why are you here?" he whispered, almost fearing that Death had come to fetch him back to his old time.

"I came to express my congratulations to your birthday and give you a present," Death replied, smirking, as he handed Harry a small booklet. "This is a coupon or voucher book," he explained. "Once a year, mostly on your birthdays, I shall come and give you another coupon."

Harry hesitantly opened the thin book that was labelled on the cover '_Death's Loyalty Card,_' and studied it with interest. There was only one coupon in it. It held two blank fields.

"You may save two persons, not more," Death explained in a firm voice. "You can fill in the name of the persons you wish to save, no more than two though. If you unconsciously save someone from me, before you put a name into a field, a stamp will appear on a blank field. If you save more than two people, I'm going to get one of your three items back, either the cloak or the wand or the ring. So be careful that you don't save more than two."

"Err, sorry sir," Harry began to enquire, when he felt himself being interrupted.

"I'm not a sir, I am Death."

"Sorry Death," Harry continued, "will you give me a warning? I mean, perhaps I find myself in a situation of saving someone without being aware of it."

"I shall give you a warning, Master," Death replied, sounding grumpy. "I'll be back next year."

Before Harry could demand to be told any details, the black figure vanished from the sight, leaving the boy very upset. '_If I want to save my parents and grandparents, that's already four people,_' he thought, angrily. _'I just hope he'll give me at least three more people during the next few years. Otherwise, the whole coming to the past thing doesn't make sense at all,'_ he thought, angrily.

To his parents' concern, Harry was still awake an hour later. However, he decided to not tell them about Death's visit_. 'I can't make them decide if they want me to save them or James and Lily,'_ he thought in devastation.

HP

Unbeknownst to Harry, Charlus proceeded to speak with Godric and Rowena in their painting the instant the twins went to bed.

"How are our heirs doing?" Godric enquired, when he showed up on the rarely used third floor corridor, where their painting was.

Charlus let out a deep sigh. "I believe that Harry is scared about his deal with Death about having to marry a woman, who was a Death Eater in his future. His big problem is that he didn't know them as children as well as the fact that he knows to not speak with his brother about the matter."

Godric and Rowena nodded in apparent understanding.

"Tonight, Harry came up with an idea, which, I believe, would help him greatly," Charlus continued and explained about the request for a primary school on the Hogwarts grounds. "Do you think it would be possible to build such a school at Hogwarts?" he enquired, looking at the two founders in expectation.

"Of course," Godric was the first to reply.

"That's a wonderful idea," Rowena said, warmly. "Charlus," she continued, "I have a request to you. Please take our portrait into a frequently used room, so that we'll be able to assist Harry with his tasks and talk to him, whenever his twin is not around."

Charlus scoffed. "They've become real twins, at least from James' point of view. He's not aware of the fact that Harry isn't his real twin brother anymore let alone that he's his son. They're absolutely inseparable. We're already making them do certain chores separately to give Harry some time to speak with me in private," he explained, sighing.

"Would you consider telling James the truth?" Rowena enquired. "He should know the reason for Harry's behaviour if he needs to act strangely in James' POV for one or the other reason."

"Don't you think that he's too young?" Charlus replied, worriedly. "Dorea is strictly against telling James."

"The other possibility would be to assign them their own rooms. You could use the beginning of primary school as an excuse to tell them they're big enough to have their own room. Then you could add a painting of us to Harry's room and another to James'," Godric suggested.

"Maybe a painting of Helga and Salazar in Harry's room and this one in James'," Rowena added.

"There's no painting of Helga and Salazar around," Charlus informed them, sighing, causing Rowena to chuckle.

"Have you never been to the founders' quarters at Hogwarts?" she asked, incredulously. "There are many paintings of all of us, and it wouldn't be a problem to bring one or two here."

"The founders' quarters?" Charlus repeated in disbelief. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"Well, if you go to Hogwarts to speak with the headmaster about the Hogwarts Primary School, make a short detour to the founders' quarters," Rowena instructed him. "You'll find a portrait of all four of us if you continue the corridor behind the hospital wing. Take the twins with you. They'll love it."

"As to the primary school," Godric returned the conversation to its original topic, "I believe that there are more than enough unused corridors in the castle, so that you don't even need to have a new building. You could just use an unused part of the castle for your school. Tell me in advance when you're going to head to Hogwarts, and I'll make sure to call my three colleagues into my painting, so that we can support you and possibly Lord Black, if you wish to take him with you, for the conversation."

"Thank you so very much," Charlus replied, feeling extremely grateful at the prospect of having the founders' support in the matter.

HP

Before we head to Hogwarts to speak with Professor Dumbledore about the primary school," Charlus addressed Harry the following day after dinner, while James helped his mother in the greenhouse, "whom would you recommend as teachers?"

Harry remained pensive for a moment, before he replied, "Perhaps the mother of Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa, or Eileen Prince, the mother of Severus Snape, who will be in our year at Hogwarts. She's a Potions Mistress, but she had a potions accident and died… Oh no," he interrupted herself. "I can't save her from Death, I'm only allowed to save so many people." He let out a deep sigh. "Sorry, Dad, but I don't know."

Charlus nodded in understanding. "Did Death tell you that?" he asked, not able to recall such a scene in the memories.

Harry nodded. "He came to see me in the evening of our sixth birthday," he admitted in a barely audible voice and explained about a coupon book, which he had received that night.

_'Oh, that was last night, when we couldn't get Harry to sleep,'_ Charlus realised. "Don't worry about that, child," he gently instructed his surrogate son. "First of all, it's not your job to save the whole world, and secondly, if Death told you he'd come back on a yearly basis, he'll surely give you more coupons, so that you can save other people as well. I suppose that the most important people you need to save are your parents."

Harry let out a deep sigh, before he slowly nodded. "Yes," he finally admitted. "I was just about to put your and Mum's name first, when I recalled that I wouldn't even be born if something happened to James and Lily, so I put their names into the coupon this morning. The two of you will be the next," he promised, sincerely. "I just hope that I'm not going to change the future too much for them to marry and have a baby together," he added as an afterthought.

_tbc...?_

_Thank you so much for your kind comments on the previous chapter. I am still not convinced if I should continue this, but due to your kind comments, I decided to write on and watch the resonance for the time being. Please tell me what you think and what you expect for this story. _


	4. The Primary School

**Death's Loyalty Card**  
**by Teddylonglong**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

_**Warnings: Completely AU **(also means that people's names, birth dates etc. might be changed to fit into this story). **Partly OOC. Possible time paradox.**_

* * *

Albus Dumbledore looked up in apparent surprise, when Arcturus Black followed Charlus through the fireplace. Only Charlus had made the appointment with the headmaster, knowing that the old wizard was not aware of the unusual friendship between the two lords.

"Lord Potter, Lord Black," he greeted them, offering each of them a seat in front of his desk. "Would you care for a lemon drop?" he then asked, pushing a bowl with sweets to their side of the desk.

They both declined and after answering a couple of polite questions about their families, Charlus came straight to the point.

"Headmaster, why we sought you out this morning is to ask you to set up a Hogwarts Primary School for the magical children from the age of six years onwards," he explained in a firm voice.

"Headmaster," Godric spoke up from his portrait, "please note that we, the four founders of this school, second that request. It's a brilliant idea and it would help greatly to remedy the main problem at Hogwarts of this time, the house rivalry."

"It would also give Hogwarts more influence on the children and lesson certain pure blood parents' indoctrinations," Arcturus added, causing Dumbledore to look at him in surprise.

Dumbledore thoughtfully stroked his beard, before he replied. "This sounds like an idea the founders seem to approve of. Did you put any further thought into the matter like classrooms, teachers and so on?"

"If you wish to set up a new building for the school on the Hogwarts grounds, we're both willing to finance it to a certain extent," Charlus replied, "although, we don't believe that it would be necessary, considering the many empty parts within the castle. An unused part of Hogwarts, perhaps provided with a separate entrance, if possible on the Hogsmeade side of the castle, would suffice."

"As to the teachers," Arcturus took over, "my daughter-in-law, Druella Black, as well as my daughter, Lucretia Prewett, née Black, would both be willing to teach, and I've heard that Eileen Prince would make a good teacher as well. I do not know if she would be willing to teach though. From what I have heard, she seems to be a Potions Mistress. Druella would only be able to teach if her youngest daughter Narcissa was allowed to attend in spite of only being five years old right now," he added as an afterthought.

Dumbledore, who had scribbled the names onto a parchment, nodded in understanding. "I shall contact them and ask them," he promised. "We'd need three teachers anyway. I could imagine that Mary Greengrass would be willing to become a teacher as well. Her son, Cygnus Greengrass, should be of the same age as your sons respectively grandchildren."

"Oh right, she's a very enjoyable person," Charlus agreed. "Please ask her as well."

"I will," Dumbledore promised before thanking them profusely for bringing the idea to his attention. "I need one of you to become the headmaster for the primary school," he added. "I can't possibly take over more work; although I promise you that we're going to work closely together."

"Lord Potter," Arcturus replied and, turning to Charlus, added, "Your children are going to attend the school, while in my case, they're the grandchildren."

"Really?" Charlus mouthed, knowing that his best friend was fully aware of the fact that one of his children was his grandson as well. However, he agreed, deciding that Arcturus had to become his deputy headmaster.

HP

While, until now, the twins had always shared a room, their parents decided that they should have their own rooms from now that they were going to become pupils of the Hogwarts Primary School – much to the twins' surprise. James and Harry were very excited and did not really think of it as a loss, as the rooms were adjacent to each other, and the balconies were even connected, so that they could easily visit each other, even in the evenings, when they were supposed in bed.

Nevertheless, Harry felt very much reassured by having his own room. As much as he loved James and wanted to spend time with him, he knew that Death was going to come to see him at least on their birthdays, and he did not want James to accidentally witness the events.

_'It'll be difficult enough to hide things while being at Hogwarts,'_ he mused, before he turned his attention to the portrait of the four founders of Hogwarts that decorated the wall opposite of his bed. '_This is just awesome_,' he thought, happily.

HP

After Charlus and Arcturus were called to the headmaster for further talks about the new to be set-up primary school a month later, Charlus told Harry and James that Druella Black, Lucretia Prewett and Mary Greengrass had agreed to become teachers and that Dumbledore had already begun with the building of a new house for the school. "It's going to have two entrances," he explained eagerly, "one on the Hogsmeade side, so that parents can easily take their children to school by apparition, and one on the Hogwarts side, so that you'll be able to use the Hogwarts ground and, for example, the Quidditch pitch."

_'That must be where he built the Shrieking Shack in my old timeline,' _Harry thought, wondering what Dumbledore would do, when Remus was going to come to Hogwarts as a student. _'It would be cool if he could attend the primary school together with us,'_ he thought, longing to meet his old friend as soon as possible.

HP

Later, during Harry's private time with Charlus, his father showed him a parchment with a list of names.

"Do you recall anyone else, whom we should invite?" he enquired. "These names are from the book of magical children, however, except for the muggleborn children. Apparently, Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall have decided to only alert their parents to the fact that their children are magical, when they turn eleven."

"Dad, do you really believe that Dumbledore talked to McGonagall? I think that she might be more open to… Oh well," he interrupted himself. "We can't change how Dumbledore ticks anyway. At least he agreed to the primary school. We can always work on dismissing him at a later time."

Charlus chuckled. "We can always work on that after this task, and I'm sure that Arcturus will assist," he agreed, pleasantly.

"I'd like to have my Mum invited though," Harry said, pensively. "She probably already knows about magic, because Snape told her at some stage, even if I can't be certain when that was."

"Harry, as much as I can understand your feelings, I'm sorry to say that there's nothing that we can do about the matter at this time," Charlus replied, letting out a deep sigh.

"There's another matter that I wished to talk to you about," he added, pensively. "As you've already attended Hogwarts up to your OWLs, I suppose that classes at Hogwarts won't be very interesting for you, let alone the primary school."

"That's probably true," Harry admitted, "but it's all right. I have much thinking to do about how to interact with people and later on how to get rid of Voldemort." He shrugged, knowing that he would certainly become bored sooner or later.

"Arcturus has suggested to introduce you to the Unspeakables. Apparently, he's good friends with Thoth, the head Unspeakable. If you worked for them, you could simply go and attend training with them after school. We've agreed with Dumbledore that school is going to end at two o'clock in the afternoon every day," Charlus suggested, giving Harry a questioning look.

"That sounds interesting," Harry had to admit. "What about James though? Wouldn't he want to do the same?"

"We have, of course, thought about that," Charlus replied, smiling. "Do you know that some of the professional Quidditch teams have junior or even children's teams? By chance, I know the owner of the Chudley Cannons team quite well, and when I told him of James' obsession with Quidditch, he offered to let James play with their children's team."

"Oh, that's brilliant," Harry blurted out, letting out a relieved sigh. "Yes Dad, I'd like to work with the Unspeakables if they'll have me."

"You're as good as James at Quidditch though, I know that," Charlus added as an afterthought.

"Yes, but it won't take enough time to distract me from boring classes," Harry replied, grinning.

HP

The first of August was extremely eventful. Charlus Potter gave up his position at the Ministry of Magic to become the headmaster for the Hogwarts Primary School. Before taking up his position at Hogwarts, however, he introduced James to the children's team of the Chudley Cannons. At the same time, Arcturus took Harry to the Unspeakables' Office.

The previous day had been a completely normal day, except for Harry, who could not help thinking that it was supposed to be his birthday. _'No, it isn't, as my birthday is the 27th March,'_ he told himself. _'I must remember that, and if anyone asks me at the school or the Unspeakables, it's the 27th of March, 1960.'_

Arcturus took him through the fireplace right into Thoth's office and introduced him as his nephew, before he asked, "Thoth, may we speak confidentially?"

The Unspeakable nodded, before he pulled off his hood and cast his wand around in a quick motion.

_'Probably a silencing spell,'_ Harry thought, feeling very much reassured, when the Unspeakable cast another two spells to ensure their privacy.

"No one but Charlus and Dorea Potter as well as myself and Harry of course know about this, but Harry is not what he seems to be," Arcturus began and explained Harry's story to the Unspeakable.

On the one hand, Harry felt extremely uncertain, afraid that the old wizard would just think him to be a freak, on the other hand, he felt very much reassured that the head Unspeakable knew the truth about him.

"This is a more than rare case," Thoth finally said after listening to the whole story. "However, the Unspeakables' Office is exactly the right place for you to be, and you're going to be a very valuable asset to us," he added, smiling at Harry.

"Thank you, sir," Harry replied, returning a shy smile.

"For the time being, we'll keep this knowledge to ourselves and pretend that you're just a normal wizard of this time," Thoth decided, causing Harry to nod in relief. "I might take you aside and ask questions about the future as they occur though."

"That's fine, sir," Harry promised his agreement.

"Do you already have a wand?" Thoth enquired, and his uncle gave him a questioning look.

Harry stared at the older wizards, wide-eyed. "Yes sir, the Elder wand. It's supposed to come to me when I need it. I don't have a clue how to summon it though."

"You probably have to think that you need it," Arcturus advised him, looking at him in clear expectation.

_'I need a wand,'_ Harry thought. '_Elder wand, please come to me._'

At the same time as the older wizards let out simultaneous gasps, Harry felt incredibly happy. Glancing at his right hand, he saw the Elder wand ready to cast whatever spell Harry chose. _'I wonder if it stays if I pocket it,_' he thought and carefully slid the dark wooden stick into his robe pocket. _'Thanks for coming,'_ he thought to the wand, uncertain if his feeling would transfer to the old artefact.

"So, my boy, if you believe that you'll be able to return home by yourself afterwards, I'm going to leave you to Thoth now," Arcturus spoke up.

"Yes, of course sir, thank you so very much for bringing me here," Harry replied, giving the uncle of his new time a fond smile.

The head Unspeakable motioned for Harry to follow him and introduced him to Devil, the trainer.

"No one has beat Devil in any practice or duel yet, so don't fret if you don't manage to do such a thing either," Thoth informed him, grinning.

"How old are you, six?" Devil enquired, his eyes narrowing in apparent annoyance. "Thoth, I'm sorry, but what am I supposed to do with a six-year-old?"

"Just try what you can do," Thoth replied in apparent amusement that made Harry inwardly grin.

"I've already had some training," Harry spoke up, slowly, mostly to distract the trainer. _'Expelliarmus,'_ he thought at the same time and held his hand out, as the wandless magic crossed the space between him and Devil, so that he could swiftly catch the trainer's wand in his hand. With a broad grin, he handed the wand back to the absolutely horrified trainer.

"Haha," Thoth blurted out between chuckles, "that was a brilliant move. Harry, I believe that we shall call you Death. You're going to be Devil's death."

"Death?" Harry enquired, not feeling comfortable at all with that name. "As my Unspeakable name?" he added, horrified. _'Oh well, I'm the Master of Death, even if no one is supposed to know that, so maybe it's fitting,'_ he thought.

Just in time, he managed to put up a shield in front of himself upon realising that Devil had just cast a tickling spell at him. To his enormous surprise, the Elder wand popped into his hand at the mere thought of needing to cast a spell.

"Very well done," Thoth commended him, and Harry could not keep a small smile from playing on his lips.

"Please teach me, sir," he addressed Devil, who nodded in understanding.

"I shall leave you to it," Thoth said and left the room, still looking highly amused.

From that time onwards, everything went downhill – at least for Harry's self-confidence.

Devil made full use of the training room, which – to Harry's surprise and at the same time horror – could be changed to a jungle full of dangerous magical animals, a desert with smaller yet poisonous creatures and many other, equally scary scenarios.

By the time Devil finished the training for the day, Harry was not only absolutely groggy but also almost ready to kill the trainer.

"That was horrible," he blurted out, once he stumbled out of the fireplace in his father's office, only to add, "but good."

HP

During the four weeks before the beginning of the primary school, Harry attended training with the Unspeakables every morning, while James attended the Chuddley Cannons' Quidditch practice.

After testing him on that first morning, Devil knew where Harry's strengths and weaknesses lay and explored his weak points to a great extent. By the time Harry returned home, he was totally knackered – even if absolutely thrilled.

_'Exactly what I need to fight Voldemort,'_ he thought, as he went to wash his hands and ready himself for lunch on the last day of the holidays. _'Too bad I didn't have such a chance in my old time.' _

He carefully dried his hands on the provided towel, when a small voice spoke up from the back of his mind. _'Then you wouldn't have come to this time, wouldn't have got to known your parents, godparents, great uncle and many more. Are you not much happier in this time than you were before?'_

_'I am,'_ Harry had to admit, smiling broadly, when James dashed into the room, series of words about Quidditch flowing out of his mouth.

_'Thank Merlin I know Quidditch much better than he thinks,'_ Harry thought in amusement, as he listened to his brother's excited babbling.

HP

Finally, the much anticipated first of September arrived, and James and Harry excitedly followed their father through the fireplace into the headmaster's office of the primary school.

"You better head out onto the grounds, where all pupils are going to assemble," Charlus instructed them, and the two six-year-olds swiftly followed the instruction.

While they greeted his cousins and other classmates, whom they knew, because their parents were acquaintances and had seen to invite their children for their respective birthday parties, Harry unobtrusively let his eyes wander around the grounds, looking for Remus and Peter.

_'There he is,'_ he realised, feeling very happy, as he recognised Remus Lupin among the children.

"James, what do you think, should we sit together with other children instead of next to each other, so we can get to know them and tell each other everything about them?" he whispered to his brother, when they waited for their father and Dumbledore to officially open the primary school.

"That's a good idea. Let's do that," James agreed and began to look around, wondering whom to choose to sit with.

Harry stepped over to Remus, who was standing a little aside, just by himself.

"Hello," he said in a soft voice. "I'm Harry."

"Hi Harry, I'm Remus," the other boy replied, shyly.

"Do you know anyone here?" Harry enquired, causing Remus to shake his head.

"No, I don't," he replied in a small voice. "You?"

Harry nodded. "I have a twin brother, James, and well, we have a few cousins and friends."

"I don't have any friends," Remus said, sounding very sad.

"I'm going to be your friend – if that's what you want," Harry reassured the shy boy, suddenly feeling very sorry for the six-year-old Remus.

The boy seemed very timid, and a faintly visible scar was decorating his left cheek.

Harry noticed that Remus hesitated for a moment, before he admitted, "I'd like that. Thank you, Harry."

"That's my father," Harry whispered to Remus, when Charlus cast a Sonorus charm at himself and addressed the children.

To everyone's relief, the headmaster merely greeted everyone and introduced the teachers, before he sent the children to their classrooms, and everyone eagerly entered the primary school after their teachers.

"Come," Harry whispered to Remus and pulled his new friend into the classroom, where they sat at a desk next to the window. From the corners of his eyes, he saw that James took a seat next to Sirius in the last row.

_'Making Remus the confident wizard he was in my time is a tough task,'_ Harry thought, when their teacher, Mary Greengrass made everyone tell the class about themselves. It did not occur to him that James and Sirius had apparently managed that task before. _'The question is what to do with Peter,'_ he thought, eying the six-year-old at the other end of the classroom with disdain.

_tbc...?_

_Thank you so much for your kind comments on the previous chapter. I am still not convinced if I should continue this, but due to your kind comments, I decided to add another chapter and watch the resonance for the time being. Please tell me what you think and what you expect for this story._


	5. Quidditch

**Death's Loyalty Card**  
**by Teddylonglong**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

_**Warnings: Completely AU **(also means that people's names, birth dates etc. might be changed to fit into this story). **Partly OOC. Possible time paradox. Possible character deaths.**_

* * *

_'I should try to also become friends with Severus Snape,'_ Harry thought. '_On the other hand, he must already be friends with Mum, but Mum must in the end get together with James, or I won't even be born. So even if we became friends with Severus, wouldn't the friendship brake over Lily anyway, even if that'll only be in a few years' time?'_

The fact that the full moon was on the third day of classes, something that Harry was reminded of by Remus' absence, helped Harry with his decision, as he chose to sit with Severus that morning.

"Hi, I'm Harry," he introduced himself, asking, "Would you mind sitting together today?"

"I'd like that," the other boy replied, shyly. "Soon, my friend is going to come to school, too, though," he added. "She's muggleborn and wasn't invited in the first place."

"Oh, that's nice," Harry replied, smiling. "Thanks for telling her about the school. That was very kind of you."

A small smile played on Severus' face at Harry's words.

HP

From the third week of classes onwards, Lily Evans attended their class. Harry inwardly groaned upon realising that she and Severus were inseparable. '_Well, that probably can't be helped,'_ he thought, knowing that Lily was only there, because Severus had alerted her to the opportunity. _'In the worst case, I'll have to ask Death to do something about it, so that I'll be born in fifteen or sixteen years,'_ he resolved, before a sudden idea crossed his mind. _'Even if I'm not going to be born, I'm still alive due to Death's actions, so perhaps it doesn't really matter.' _However, he was not sure about it.

_'Maybe I can make some more changes also to the Death Eaters,'_ he thought, and from that time onwards, he tried to approach every single of his classmates, trying to at least get to know everyone.

To his surprise, he found that he liked the Lestrange brothers. While his younger brother Rabastan, whom he had met once, was a little whirlwind, Rodolphus, who was in the class with Harry and James, seemed very nice.

One day, an apparently lost kitten found its way into the primary school, and Rodolphus immediately came over to help Harry care for the small animal. It was a marmalade kitten with white and orange fur, and Harry noticed in surprise that it was not much larger than his hand.

_'He's really good with animals,'_ Harry thought in surprise, unable to imagine Rodolphus as one of the criminals, who had tortured the Longbottoms in his old timeline. _'Maybe I can prevent him from becoming a Death Eater,'_ he thought.

Between classes, he spent time together with Rodolphus caring for the kitten, who even followed the other boy into the classroom and spent class time curled up in his lap. However, when classes let out for the day, Rodolphus asked Harry, "Can you take the kitten home with you? My father is very strict, and he wouldn't allow me to bring an animal home. It's much too young to leave it alone in the school," he added in a soft voice. "My sister might like it though," he added as an afterthought.

"Of course," Harry replied, smiling, and nodded, when his new friend gently placed the kitten into his arms, instructing him to bring it back to the school in the morning.

"I will," Harry promised, before he sought out James to go home together.

HP

Their parents immediately agreed that the boys could keep the kitten, and Dorea even came up with a name. "Why don't we call it Neko?" she suggested, explaining, "It means cat in Japanese. Don't ask me how I know such a thing, but someone back at Hogwarts told me that."

"May I still take her with me to school?" Harry asked in a small voice, feeling too bad for Rodolphus if he kept the kitten at home. "Rodolphus seemed to adore it, and he seemed to know exactly how to handle it. We went to see Hagrid to ask him for food, because it's still too small to eat normal cat food," he added, eagerly.

"You can do that for the time being," Charlus replied, "however, I believe that as soon as the kitten is old enough, we can just leave her at the school. She'll go hunting in the forest overnight. You just have to make sure that she's not locked in anywhere. Bring her home for at least a month though. She's still a baby."

Harry thoroughly enjoyed himself – at school as well as during his training with the Unspeakables. What he appreciated most was that it did not matter how good he was at school or if he did better in his tests than James. For him, who had already studied up to shortly before his OWLs, everything was extremely easy, and it would have been difficult to do worse than James, for whom everything was new. However, the Potters were not like the Dursleys and did not demand such a thing from him.

When James and Harry returned home from their afternoon activities, they told each other everything about their Quidditch and Unspeakable training, as far as Harry was allowed to share information. Even if Harry spent much time with Remus and Rodolphus at school, while James and Sirius were inseparable, he and James kept their extremely close relationship – one like it was reserved only for twins.

HP

To Harry's relief, he could freely speak with Toth about his worries, as the Head Unspeakable knew everything about him and his arrangement with Death.

"Death, don't fret," he told him one day, when Harry spent several minutes rambling about his necessity to marry a Death Eater. "If Death promised you to get rid of the Horcruxes and you kill Voldemort swiftly, maybe there won't even be Death Eaters in our future."

"Oh, that's true," Harry admitted. "The question is how I am going to kill him. He's much older and more powerful than me."

"Listen Death, you're an Unspeakable," Toth reminded him. "We'll be able to teach you all that you need, before your classmates even notice that he's recruiting followers. Just see to it that you remain friends with the possible future Death Eaters and distract them."

Harry let out a snort. "I don't think that they're going to become Death Eaters by their own free choice," he contradicted. "It's probably their parents who introduce them to Voldemort. Rodolphus, for example, would never become a Death Eater by his own free will."

"That might be true," Toth agreed, pensively. "Still, try to remain friends with them and influence them to a certain extent. That's all you can do at this time."

HP

During the following months, Harry did his best to become friends with his whole primary school class, even if James sometimes asked him why he wanted to be friends with just everyone.

"I just don't like to fight with anyone," Harry replied, lamely, unsure of what to tell his twin.

However, the more he observed Bellatrix, the less he could imagine marrying her. '_Even if she's not a Death Eater yet, she's still a bitch,_' he thought after witnessing how Bellatrix had ridiculed Severus for being a half-blood. '_Hasn't she noticed yet that Mum is muggleborn?'_ he wondered, even if he felt relieved that no one seemed to bother Lily about being muggleborn. _'Maybe Narcissa is less a bitch?'_ he wondered, however, since the girl was not even a primary school pupil yet, he had no way of getting to know her yet_. 'I'll just have to wait and see,_' he resolved. _'Perhaps Death can tell me a few names of other Death Eater witches, when he comes to see me the next time.'_

HP

Unfortunately, Death was not willing to do such a thing.

On Harry's and James' seventh birthday, Harry was just about to drift off to sleep, when Death made his appearance.

"Good evening, Master, and happy birthday," he greeted him, causing Harry to cast him a half-hearted smile. _'Who knows what he's going to tell me today,'_ he thought in concern.

"Do you have your stamp card ready?" Death enquired.

Harry nodded and pulled the card out from the drawer of his night table. It looked exactly like it did, when he had received it just a year ago – except for the fact that he had filled his parents' names into the blanks.

A mere instant later, he accepted it back, giving it a curious look. The two fields had been joined by one double field, while the rest of the card was still empty.

"This double field means that you can exchange people," Death explained. "You may save one if you give me the name of another, whom I may take instead. Just write the names in the free fields if you don't get a stamp automatically."

_'That's cool,'_ Harry thought. _'This way, I'll be able to save another person, and I can get rid of someone whom I greatly dislike. Too bad that Voldemort is special and it won't work for him.'_

Now fully awake, he got up and stepped over to his desk, where he placed the card and readied himself to fill a first couple into the new fields, while his mind was going haywire.

"Death," he asked in a small voice, "will you tell me the names of a few female Death Eaters, from whom I have to choose for my marriage in the future?"

"No," Death replied, matter-of-factly.

"All right," Harry groaned, racking his mind for something else that he needed to ask, knowing that otherwise, he would have to wait for a whole year.

"One more question, sir," he hesitantly began, when he was interrupted.

"I'm not a sir, I am Death."

"Yes, what I was saying," Harry made another attempt, "will Pandora O'Brien be Luna Lovegood's mother in the future?"

"Yes," Death supplied.

"Oh, then please exchange her with Lucius Malfoy," Harry said in a firm voice and quickly wrote the two names into the double field.

"Very well," Death agreed, nodding in understanding, before he vanished from the spot, leaving Harry very thoughtful.

_'I just hope he'll give me more opportunities to save people,'_ he thought. _'I still need to save Mum and Dad, err well, my grandparents, Sirius, Severus and Hermione of course. Thank Merlin they only die some time into the future.' _Letting out a huge yawn, he decided to go back to bed and just dwell on the happy thought of having saved Luna's mother.

HP

By the time when school commenced again after Easter, Harry somehow expected something to happen. However, he told himself that Pandora Lovegood had only died more than twenty years later, so that he could not really expect anything right now. Of course, Lucius was supposed to die at some stage, however, he could not know when that was going to happen.

_'Oh no,'_ he thought, when he pondered the matter more intensely, while he busied himself drawing a picture of a griffin for his art class. _'As it was only one person in exchange, it's only going to happen after Draco will be born; otherwise, it would be two persons.'_ He let out a deep sigh, thinking, _'Too bad, I really wouldn't have missed Draco.'_

However, as much as the seven-year-old pondered the matter, in the end, everything developed much differently from what he expected.

HP

During the summer holidays, when James spent the whole morning with the Chudley Cannons and the afternoon with Harry playing Quidditch, he managed to convince his father to set up a Quidditch tournament between the three classes of the Hogwarts Primary School.

As soon as classes began again after the summer holidays, Mary Greengrass, who was still the teacher of the six and seven-year-olds, set up a Quidditch try-out class for the seven-year-olds, deciding that the youngest pupils had to adjust to school and to Hogwarts before being able to participate in such an event.

Harry was not surprised when his brother ended up as Chaser, while he was chosen as Seeker. _'Thank Merlin, that's what I can do best,'_ he thought, feeling extremely happy. Marlene Mackinnon and Amelia Bones were the other Chasers, Sirius and Lucius Malfoy the Beaters, and Rodolphus was made Keeper.

In order to be able to practise at any time, James convinced the teacher to set up a reserve team as well, and the class quickly decided on Bellatrix Black, Lily Evans and Peter Pettigrew as Chasers, Crabbe and Goyle as Beaters, Frank Longbottom as Keeper and Severus Snape as Seeker.

When Mrs. Greengrass informed them that they could practise from 1:30 till 2:00 p.m. every Friday afternoon, James took matters into his own hands and convinced his classmates to use the second half of lunch break to practise on a daily basis.

Harry thoroughly enjoyed himself. Like during his time at Hogwarts, as brilliant flyers as the other Seekers were, they were never able to catch the Snitch before Harry caught the moving, golden ball, and their class managed to win the first and the second Quidditch match against the older primary school classes.

"Perhaps we should let the winning team once play against the Hogwarts teams," Charlus said one day during the Christmas holidays, when his sons were at home spending time with their parents.

"Oh yes please," James was all for it.

"That's a brilliant idea," Harry added, grinning in anticipation.

HP

A Sunday in February, the day after the students' Hogsmeade visit for Valentine's Day, was set for the first match of the primary school pupils versus a Hogwarts house team, and the pupils had to play against the Gryffindor team.

"Don't worry, they're bigger than us but maybe not so fast," James, whom everyone silently accepted as something like a captain, encouraged the team. "We'll do as well as we did in every other match so far."

Harry realised that some of the students were much bigger than himself, however, he knew from experience that size did not matter. He cruised above the pitch, glad that the weather, even if cold, was bright but not too sunny, so that it would not be overly difficult to see the Snitch.

Nevertheless, the game went on for two hours, before he first spotted the fast hiding golden ball. He was just about to go into a deep dive, when he heard James' voice shouting, "Harry, be careful, a Bludger."

Unfortunately, he was not able to react fast enough to the warning, and a moment later, he was hit in the head full force.

Just when unconsciousness claimed him and he fell from his broom, his magic reacted to the attack and retaliated in a bout of accidental magic, seeing to it that he was not the only pupil tumbling to the ground in a free fall.

Fortunately, his unconscious mind – used to transform in a dangerous situation like this – automatically made him transform into the raven Animagus form of his former self, and the raven managed to fly off the impeding ground, before it slumped onto the ground in a relatively soft landing a little further ahead.

HP

By the time, Harry's mind returned to awareness, he was sitting in Rodolphus' lap, and the other boy was gently caressing his back feathers. His parents and classmates along with some teachers were sitting in a circle around them.

Harry blinked a couple of times, trying to recall what happened. '_Why am I in my Animagus form?'_ he wondered, horrified to have his secret out in the open. _'I didn't even know that I could transform after being sent back in time.'_

He looked at his friend, glad that Rodolphus seemed to understand his plead and gently placed him onto the floor next to him. Harry took a few steps aside, before he swiftly transformed back into his human form, only to let out a groan upon realising that his head hurt badly.

"Harry, are you all right?" someone asked, and Harry, recognising Madam Pomfrey, admitted, "Headache."

"He was hit with the Bludger full-force," Amelia explained, and Harry noticed that everyone looked at him in apparent concern.

"What exactly happened?" he asked, wondering why everyone seemed so worried.

"Someone attacked you," Sirius supplied, "by hitting you in the head with a Bludger, and you managed to return some very strong magic that made him fall from his broom."

"He didn't survive it," Lily added in a soft voice.

"Harry didn't do anything," Rodolphus emphasized. "He was already unconscious and tumbling from his broom, when that bout of magic left his body. It's not his fault."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "No, it's not your fault," Albus Dumbledore, who had just joined the small group, said in a firm voice.

"Excuse me, sir," Harry replied, giving the healer a grateful look, when his headache subsided, "what exactly is not my fault?"

_tbc...?_

_Thank you so very much for the reviews for the previous chapter. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and what you expect from this story. Any ideas or opinions are welcome. If you wish to discuss anything concerning this story, feel free to join my Facebook group._


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